cabrini green residents

[drro]

Originally Posted by jmgg

VERY interesting. I had never heard of the nun Cabrini nor knew that those projects were named after her.

I remember attending a White Sox-Twins game at the NEW Comisky Park (Guaranteed Rate Field) right after it was built. We sat in the upper deck down the 1st base line and could look over the freeway at the high rise projects buildings. The story, most probably true, was that these seats had bullet holes from being shot from the projects.

https://www.fromthisseat.com/index.p...rk-s-structure

This is really interesting information about the Robert Taylor projects, thanks for sharing. I have wondered too many times where the stray bullets fired from Cabrini Green would hit. Downtown Chicago being really close, I imagine some of the skyscrapers there have bullet holes.

I also wonder how the people from downtown Chicago felt about Cabrini Green back in the day. It seems hard to ignore all the gunfire just a few blocks away. In some skyscrapers facing Cabrini Green you could probably see the muzzle flashes in the projects at night.

[CBOTfan]

Originally Posted by drro

T
I also wonder how the people from downtown Chicago felt about Cabrini Green back in the day. It seems hard to ignore all the gunfire just a few blocks away. In some skyscrapers facing Cabrini Green you could probably see the muzzle flashes in the projects at night.

I watched the incremental demolition of these buildings since the start as I commuted into downtown via train from northern neighborhoods. For the most part, new residential development on the downtown periphery did not expand westard into this area until after the buildings were gone and the residents relocated.

[drro]

Originally Posted by CBOTfan

I watched the incremental demolition of these buildings since the start as I commuted into downtown via train from northern neighborhoods. For the most part, new residential development on the downtown periphery did not expand westard into this area until after the buildings were gone and the residents relocated.

This is actually quite hilarious in a way. Imagine having invested millions in the planning and development of a skyscraper with high end apartments in downtown close to the Near North Side yet not being able to start construction because some of the bad guys in Cabrini Green are exchanging gunfire all day and night and might shoot up your building.

[Kmanshouse]

Originally Posted by drro

I also wonder how the people from downtown Chicago felt about Cabrini Green back in the day. It seems hard to ignore all the gunfire just a few blocks away. In some skyscrapers facing Cabrini Green you could probably see the muzzle flashes in the projects at night.

I was a suburbanite at the time and distinctly remember accidentally finding myself at the Cabrini Green entrance while driving/looking for where I was headed. There was this instant feeling of OH NO TURN AROUND.

Never saw/heard anything but didn't stick around long when this happened (maybe twice).

Back then I had a very different view - the city felt like "downtown", "Wrigley" and "Comiskey" and anything else was pretty unknown to me then. Visited the River North area a few times and that must have been when I stumbled across it - likely getting lost back when we didn't have GPS.

I also have this memory of being a little kid and going to a Bulls game with my dad. There was some decrepit blocks surrounding the old Chicago Stadium back in the late 70s/80s. Still can be a dangerous area but nothing like it was then.

[Master Jay]

I remember in the 80's/early 90s my dad would purposely drive around the high rises of Cabrini Green to show my brother and I... I'm not sure exactly what his intent was... He grew up poor in the projects of Milwaukee and experienced racism... Perhaps he was trying to teach us to be appreciative for what we had growing up; perhaps he was trying to teach us not to be afraid to be around people/places in very tough situations.

I just remember we would then go south and pass Greek Town, Maxwell Street Market, Pilsen, and Chinatown. I will say this, that man definitely exposed me to various cultures when I was a kid/teenager.